Automatic brewing machines for single cups of coffee or tea are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,989, assigned to Keurig, Incorporated, discloses a single serving beverage brewer in which a measured charge of dry beverage medium is infused with a metered amount of heated liquid. This reference is herein incorporated by reference, in its entirety. A reusable beverage filter cartridge, with a cup-shaped housing having a top opening and bottom outlet port, an internal filter, and a removable lid, is used.
The drawback to such machines is that one typically must buy relatively expensive pre-packaged cups, each cup wrapped in a container to be disposed of, creating a lot of waste. While this is more convenient than brewing an entire pot of coffee for just one drink, and produces a much better-tasting drink than instant coffee which is added to hot water, a user typically cannot choose his/her preferred quantity of ground coffee, or add any coffee grounds of his/her choice. If one did so with an automatic single cup brewing machine, the results would be unreliable.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide the convenience of single-cup coffee brewing machines, but with less waste, and with the low cost and flexibility of traditional multi-cup coffee makers.